Interactions in archaeology

Organisers

Oliver Nakoinz, James Allison, Aleksandr Diachenko, Franziska Faupel, Daniel Knitter, Ezra B. Zubrow

Interaction is one of the main drivers of social, cultural and economic processes. Interaction models address an influential aspect of human-human and human-environment relationships. Interaction structures the movement of people, objects, and ideas across landscapes, while understanding of the archaeological landscapes requires the knowledge regarding the interactions that influenced the nature and distribution of archaeological remains. The term 'interaction' is an abstract concept which covers different types of relationships, different modeling approaches and different theories. According to the wide range of interaction types, the related models are ranged from simple conceptual models to complex models. Examples are migration models, wave of advance models, fall-off curves, diffusion models, gravity models, network analysis and agent-based interaction models. Network analysis may be used for the production of optimal routing and vehicle loading plans; multi-modal transport problems; network partitioning and territory definition; facility location on a network; and travel demand analysis. This session aims to contribute to systematization and integration of theoretical and modeling approaches focused on interaction, including the important aspect of the relationship between empirical and theoretical models. The key questions are as follows. How can we measure interaction? What parameters influence interaction? What are the static and dynamic solutions to these issues? What types of simulation approaches are decent to model interaction? What theories are/may be involved and to support certain methodological approaches and explain the obtained results? How can we validate theoretical interaction models? What kind of integer models may be applied to studies of interactions? 

Contact: Oliver Nakoinz     oliver.nakoinz.i@gmail.com

List of Speakers

Aleksandr Diachenko (Institute of Archaeology of the NAS of Ukraine) and Ezra B.W. Zubrow (SUNY at Buffalo): Demographic Variables in Simulations of Interactions: Methodological Issues of Estimations

James R. Allison (Brigham Young University): Landscapes of Interaction: Understanding Social Landscapes through Quantitative Models of Artifact Distributions

Yi-Jen Tseng (Department of Architecture, National Quemoy University): The Impact on Culture and Landscape – Conservation and Development of Stonework Under the Interaction between Kinmen and Mainland China

Marek Hladík (Institute of Archeology of the CAS, Brno) & Jakub Tamaškovic: Structural Equation Modelling in the Research of Interactions of the Great Moravian Centres with Their Economic Hinterland (Central Europe, Mikulcice, 9th – 10th Century)

Oliver Nakoinz (University of Kiel) & Franziska Faupel: Modelling Early Iron Age interaction in South-West Germany Demographic Variables in Simulations of Interactions

Ulla Rajala (Department of Archaeology & Classical Studies, Stockholm University): Materiality and Landscape: Multicultural Interaction and Changing Group Identities in Central Italy from the Orientalizing to the Late Republican Period

List of Posters

Ricarda Braun (Department of Earth Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin), Daniel Knitter, Brigitta Schütt, &. Ricardo Eichmann: Interaction Patterns at the Transition from Hunter-Gatherer to Sedentary Societies – A Case Study from the Surroundings of Göbekli Tepe